


Midnight Snack

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [46]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Banter, Everyone Loves Pop-tarts, Late Night Conversations, Observant Tony Stark, Pepper Potts and May Parker Want Their Boys to Eat Healthy, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Poptarts, Short & Sweet, Snacks & Snack Food, Sneaky Peter Parker, Surprise-It's a Lost Cause, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, midnight snack, tony stark is tired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23144800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: It's midnight and Tony contemplating whether or not he wants to go to bed when spots a certain spiderling on his ceiling... eating Pop-tarts fromhissecret stash.  Discissions ensue.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [46]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1397362
Comments: 18
Kudos: 327





	Midnight Snack

It was midnight when Tony finally dragged himself into the kitchen after a nineteen-hour lab session. He was by no means finished with the project he'd started but _he had_ run out of coffee grounds. That meant that if he wanted to continue his caffeine-fueled engineering bing, he was going to have to resurface in order to obtain more java. Hence he was standing in front of the coffee maker rapidly tapping his fingers on the counter in a steady rhythm as he waited for the pot to fill with enough steaming liquid to replenish his mug.

By the time he was able to bring the brimming cup to his lips, enough time had lapsed that the adrenalin had begun to wear off and he was starting to feel the effects of his latest would-be all-nighter. His eyes were burning, his back was starting to ache and god, he was getting old, he thought to himself as he carefully lowered himself into a kitchen chair with a groan. It occurred to him that he couldn't remember the last time he'd stayed awake for so long. He used to do it all the time, he was just out of practice. If Pepper were there, she would tell that was a good thing. 

He was just starting to debate whether or not he actually wanted to go back to the lab when something caught his attention. A few small crumbs were scattered across the table. After a few moments had passed, he noticed that a few more had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Then with a tired sigh, he ran the hand not clutching his mug as though it held a life-giving elixir, down his face, never taking his eyes off of the slowly growing mess. "Kid... what are you doing up there?", he inquired without ever looking up. Several seconds passed in silence before he tilted his head back to find Peter clinging to the ceiling with one hand while clutching a Pop-tart in the other. 

"Eating Pop-tarts?", Peter said before slowly taking another bite of the pre-packaged pastry causing more crumbs to accumulate on the surface below him.

As Tony looked up he suddenly realized that the uppermost cabinet that he covertly stored all of his, ' _Tony that's not real food, it's junk_ ', was wide open and he glared. "Are you seriously getting into my secret stash? The one I meticulously keep hidden form Pepper?", he fundamentally interrogated with indignation. It had taken him weeks to find a place that was suitably out of his wife's reach while still being accessible to him with the right maneuvering. At some point, he'd allowed Peter to get them some of the cookies down for them to share but now it seemed that his charitable allocation was being thrown back in his face. He'd given up the location of his cache to a Pop-tart pilfering teenager with sticky hands.

"Maybe?", Peter returned with a self-satisfied grin that managed to get under Tony's skin.

"Would you stop answering my questions with more questions!", Tony snapped back but the kid gave no indication that he had been fazed by the outburst.

Taking another bite of the stolen confection, Peter raised his eyebrows in fabricated surprise. "Oh, is that bothering you?", he asked with the obvious intention of pestering his already annoyed mentor. 

"Just get down here and sit in a chair like a normal person!", Tony said with another mild glare whilst animatedly gesturing towards the seat across from him.

Peter started to disengage his hold on the wall and was dangling with one hand when he looked toward Tony with a smile. "You want me to get you a pack of Pop-tarts first?", he queried before realizing that he'd just proposed another question and began to laugh. "Wait-- I didn't mean do that, I swear!", he asserted as he continued to cackle from above.

Tony sighed. He wasn't quite sure when he'd eaten last and he was positive that processed carbohydrates and corn syrup probably weren't the most nourishing choice but they sounded good and required no effort. He didn't even have to climb up to get them. The kid was already there. "I want raspberry ones. With frosting."

Once he'd procured the desired midnight snack, Peter dropped down into the aforementioned chair in one graceful movement before sliding the silvery package towards his mentor. "That's the last pack of those so you might want to get some more.", he said as if he'd not been the cause of the shortage.

"Why are you eating my Pop-tarts? Don't you have Pop-tarts at your own house?", Tony grumbled under his breath.

Peter smiled and broke off the two remaining corners "Nope but they sounded good, so I came here.", he replied before depositing one of the crunchy bites of crust into his mouth.

"You came all the way here to eat my Pop-tarts...", Tony practically whined. "Why can't' you get your own Pop-tarts."

"May won't buy them for me because she says their loaded with sugar and that I'm hyper enough as it is.", Peter explained with a disbelieving huff. 

"Hang on just a minute there, Kiddo. Are you telling me that your aunt doesn't allow you to eat Pop-tarts at home so you sneak over here to eat them behind her back?", he challenged but the only answer he received was a shrug of the boy's shoulders. "What other restricted foods am I inadvertently giving you unlimited access to?"

"Do you really want me to answer that, Mr. Stark?", Peter cautiously inquired but when the man crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at him he caved without further prompting. "Lucky Charms, gummy worms, Nutella, Dr. Pepper, um... powdered doughnuts, oh! ...and those little yogurt cups that you mix M&Ms in.", he rapidly listed followed by a defeated sigh that was meant to lead into another list but he was cut off before he could start. "There's also--"

"--That's enough. I'm officially sorry I asked.", Tony said while pinching the bridge of his nose. It was entirely too late and he was entirely too exhausted to deal with the fact that he'd been contributing to the kid's acts of sugary delinquency. "You know you shouldn't be eating that stuff if she's asked you not to, right?", he groaned and then rolled his eyes as the teenager had the audacity to _laugh_ at him. "Yes, I realize how hypocritical that sounds!", he hissed through his teeth.

Peter smiled sweetly and nodded his head. "So... does that mean that you're not going to tell Aunt May?", he questioned with mock naivety.

With yet another deep exhale, Tony dropped his head down onto the table for a few seconds and when he finally sat up, the kid was still grinning at him with that mockingly innocent grin that he liked to pull every now and then for special occasions. "I won't tell if you don't.", he exhaustively stipulated. 

Popping the last bite of his surreptitiously acquired contraband into his mouth, Peter brushed the crumbs off of his fingers and held out his hand in agreement. "Sounds like we've got ourselves a deal, Mr. Stark." 

**Author's Note:**

> Come shout at me on [Tumblr.](https://yes-i-am-happyaspie.tumblr.com/) I think I'm finally starting to figure it out. 😂


End file.
